Confronting the Tax Collector

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.nwtrcc.org/mtap06/mtap1006.html


Perspectives
Confronting the Tax Collector
By Dave Gross

Russell Kanning, editor of the Keene FreePress, and a war tax resister well-known in "Free State Project" circles (a project that is encouraging libertarian-minded people to move to New Hampshire in the hopes of forming a political critical mass), was arrested July 27 for visiting the IRS office in Keene, New Hampshire, with the intent of handing leaflets to its employees.

The leaflets quote the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal: "Anyone with knowledge of illegal activity and an opportunity to do something about it is a potential criminal under international law unless the person takes affirmative measures to prevent the commission of the Crimes." The reverse side is a sample letter that IRS employees could send President Bush to announce that they are resigning their jobs.

"Gandhi called his noncooperation with evil a campaign of civil disobedience," said Kanning. "I am calling it 'Tilting at Windmills.' An individual seems powerless against the lone global superpower, but it is the individual consent of everyone that empowers them. So the power is in our hands to bring down this rotten government."

He was arrested by agents from the Department of Homeland Security and charged with distributing materials in a federal building and failure to obey a lawful order. After he was booked and released, he immediately returned to the IRS office to try again (without the leaflets, which had been confiscated). He was arrested again, this time charged with disorderly conduct.

"I never got to talk with the IRS workers," he says, "but I did get to ask some Homeland Security guys to quit."

While Russell Kanning never said so explicitly the form of his protest comes straight from Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience":

My civil neighbor, the tax-gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with, - for it is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel, -and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government. How shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he shall treat me, his neighbor, for whom he has respect, as a neighbor and well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace....

If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished.

Kanning was arrested at his home on July 31, 2006, for failure to appear in court the previous Friday to face the earlier charges. He was held 17 days in a maximum security cell since he refused to cooperate with the booking procedures. In court he was convicted of failure to obey lawful orders, one charge of failure to obey posted regulations, and one charge of disorderly conduct and given time served by the judge. The group continues to vigil and turn up at the IRS on a regular basis. Dave Gross posted this story on his blog and war tax resistance website, http://www.sniggle.net/Experiment/index.php?entry=28Jul06, and 31Jul06 and 02Aug06. See also Kanning's writings at http://www.keenefreepress.com and more pictures at http://www.soulawakenings.com/underground/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php, click on the "Tilting at Windmills" link.

[Russell Kanning]

That is a good summary of what is going on.

Lauren came up with the idea of going to the IRS office and Caleb made the brochure. I blame both of them for my imprisonment.

I read Thoreau's essay many times in jail.

[PinoX7]

There will always be somebody there to replace him, or anyone that quits the IRS or those office positions.

[Russell Kanning]

Always?

The military is having a hard time recruiting.
The IRS has always had to recruit hard.

[Kat Kanning]

They have trouble getting people to be prison guards too, apparently, cause it's such an evil job.

[KBCraig]

They have trouble getting people to be prison guards too, apparently, cause it's such an evil job a dirty, dangerous, thankless job.

Fixed it for you.